Everyone on Earth to have internet access by 2025

A new report has predicted every person in the world will be online in a decade, but the free exchange of information will be under threat.

The report claims that State crackdowns on websites they do not approve of are likely to increase in the future while government spies will snoop further into web surfers’ lives.

The Pew Research Center quizzed more than 1,400 experts on whether or not people will be more or less able to freely share information online in a decade. While most, 65%, said the web of the future would be more open, many feared that the open structure which made the net so powerful would be seriously under threat.

The editor of Fast Net News Dave Burstein said: “Governments worldwide are looking for more power over the net, especially within their own countries.

The fears come after Google was slammed for removing links to certain stories under a new EU directive that people have the right to be forgotten.

Despite these fears, others felt the free exchange of information would be made easier while filmmaker Tiffany Shalin said that “every human being on the planet will be online” by 2025.

Others questioned in the survey, suggested that the future of the internet was reliant on the streaming of TV shows, music and film – with companies trying to control where the content goes and how.